For those of us under the age of 50 — and we are a substantial proportion of the general population — there has been no other monarch. Her Majesty, Elizabeth II, the Queen of Canada, today marks the 50th anniversary of her ascension to the throne, upon her father's death.

The last time we as a people heard that eerie, heartcatching cry from the heralds — "The King is dead; long live the Queen!" — Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was summoned from Treetops, in Kenya, where she had been fulfilling her ailing father's obligations on a royal tour. Fact and legend are identical: she climbed its ladder a princess one night, and descended next morning with the weight of the Commonwealth upon her young shoulders.

The reign of every monarch begins in sorrow; it is among the great appeals of the institution, a symbol within the symbol. The sceptre of power is taken up in mourning, not the giddy celebration of the politician who has just won big.

For the Queen herself, today is the 50th anniversary of the death of her father.

Our parents, or grandparents, remember the little princess, "Lilibet," standing in the fold of George VI and his queen, with that stately grace that came so naturally even to the child. It was they who once heard her first radio broadcast, on a children's program, to the entire Empire, in October of 1940.

Who remember her autumn tour in 1951, when Canadians came out in great numbers to cheer and greet this beautiful young woman who would soon be our Queen; and the gallant young husband (himself of royal lineage) with whom she was known to be passionately in love.

It has been an extraordinary lifelong service, from a woman whose instinct to duty and honour commands our personal admiration, as well as the loyalty we owe as her subjects. Through some of the most trying times in the long history of the Britannic realm, she has been unwavering. Through decades that have brought unprecedented change in society, and in the politics that reflect it, she has been the strong link of continuity, an embodiment of principles that must not change.

She is large in the history of this monarchy. This year she surpasses Edward III (1327-1377) in length of service, and will we hope come to surpass Henry III (1216-1272), George III (1760-1820), and finally even Victoria (1837-1901) — rulers who gave their names not to a generation, but to an age. If, as I devoutly wish, she should live as long as her mother, she will have served more than any Queen or King in the historical record of the world.

And together with Elizabeth I (who herself served 45 years), Queen Anne and Queen Victoria, she has proved the wisdom of the liberal British principle of succession, which has long admitted women to the throne. It is hard to cite four kings who have been the equals of these.

It was Elizabeth I who explained, twice, how this could be so. In the first instance, she declared a capacity to love her subjects, and care for their well-being, in a way no man ever could — to be the bride of England. In the second she answered a Spanish ambassador's amazed request, to tell him the secret of her extraordinary success, by performing a dance before him.

It is this graceful dance that our own Elizabeth has performed, for more than half a century, in the sight of us all. Even in the midst of that annus horribilis of 1992, or in negotiating with the mob at the funeral for Diana (who demanded from their Queen a tawdry show of emotion, to match their own) -- she emerged with unshaken poise. She is a very strong woman, who has kept her tears to herself, and only smiled upon her subjects.

The function of a monarch is not to be charismatic. Whether in the era of divine right, or especially this one of constitutional monarchy, the requirement is to be much seen but little heard. The charisma is in the office, and the occupant must keep it there.

In moments of national victory or disaster, it is time for the Queen to speak; in rare moments of constitutional crisis, it is time for her to act; but apart from these, her function is fulfilled by the routine events in the Court Circular, and by her Christmas messages of unerring goodwill.

Her place is in the portraits that once were hung in every schoolroom and post office across our Dominion — a silent but living guarantor of our "peace, order, and good government."

For the Queen is what she is, our Head of State, and not what our media have tried to make her, a successful or unsuccessful advertisement for family life in another country. Indeed, the only serious mistake made in her reign was to feed these jackals, by making the royal family, and in particular her children, more accessible to the public gaze.

It was an attempt to be "modern" that backfired. The private lives of royalty should be none of the public's business; they should take place behind a wall of separation from prurient eyes. To those with any appreciation of the British freedom that we proudly inherit, for royalty as for commonalty, one's home should be one's castle. And we, in the public, should be raised to respond to gossip as to any other evil, by turning the other way.

It will be hard now to return to good sense, but in the many years that I hope remain to this reign, I hope this will be attempted. There is serenity in the very age of our Queen, and dignity in her every movement. The squalour that sometimes surrounds her is a function of the times.

This Queen has herself exhibited the kind of "warm remoteness" her position requires -- an absolutely essential position in the scheme of Crown in Parliament that defines the Canadian state. Not the only scheme of government in the world, but still the best when its officers act in good faith. And each of us is an officer in this order.

For monarchy requires also something of its subjects -- a respect that goes beyond the person to the institution, a loyal warmth to "God, Queen, and Country" that is not jingo, on the one side, nor ironic on the other. A loyalty that may be above our present level of refinement, but which would be worth recovering. In a phrase: "God save the Queen."

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